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National Geographic puts 9-year-old transgender girl on their January cover

Posted: Dec 18 2016 06:34PM CST

Updated: Dec 18 2016 07:04PM CST

The January 2017 issue of National Geographic will be a historic one: it is the publication's first issue to feature a transgender person on the cover.

Sitting pretty on the magazine's cover is 9-year-old Avery Jackson, a transgender girl from Kansas City. "Gender Revolution" is displayed in large type across the cover. The magazine told Attn: Avery is the first ever transgender person to be featured on the magazine's front page.

Avery is the perfect choice for this historic milestone. She's representative of the growing visibility of transgender people, and she drives the point home that being transgender isn't a choice, but just something you are. In a quote that accompanies Avery's picture on the cover, Avery says "the best thing about being a girl is, now I don't have to pretend to be a boy."

Avery's mom confirmed the cover on Twitter.

According to Attn:, Avery's family have been outspoken proponents of transgender rights for years. Debi, Avery's mom, features her daughter's story in a YouTube video and in a GLAAD video series. Her dad told the New York Times that raising a transgender child is the same as raising any child. A parent's role does not change, he said.